| Revision as of 00:04, 14 April 2004 edit172 (talk | contribs)24,875 editsNo edit summary← Previous edit | Revision as of 00:05, 14 April 2004 edit undo172 (talk | contribs)24,875 editsNo edit summaryNext edit → | ||
| Line 9: | Line 9: | ||
| However, with 55 white dead casualties, no slave uprising beforehand had come anywhere close to inflicting such a severe blow to the ranks of slave owners. Brilliantly coordinated, none reached this scale in the future either. | However, with 55 white dead casualties, no slave uprising beforehand had come anywhere close to inflicting such a severe blow to the ranks of slave owners. Brilliantly coordinated, none reached this scale in the future either. | ||
| Thus, Nat Turner is recognized as a heroic figure by large numbers of African Americans and pan-Africanists worldwide |
Thus, Nat Turner is recognized as a heroic figure by large numbers of African Americans and pan-Africanists worldwide. | ||
| Nat Turner finally became the focus of historical scholarship in the ], when historian ] was publishing the first serious scholarly work on instances of slave resistance in the antebellum South. Aptheker stressed how the rebellion was rooted in the exploitative conditions of the Southern slave system. He traversed libraries and archives throughout the South, managing to uncover roughly 250 similar instances, though none of which reached the scale of the great Nat Turner uprising. | Nat Turner finally became the focus of historical scholarship in the ], when historian ] was publishing the first serious scholarly work on instances of slave resistance in the antebellum South. Aptheker stressed how the rebellion was rooted in the exploitative conditions of the Southern slave system. He traversed libraries and archives throughout the South, managing to uncover roughly 250 similar instances, though none of which reached the scale of the great Nat Turner uprising. | ||
| ]'s ] ] ''The Confession of Nat Turner'' was awarded the ]. | ]'s ] ] ''The Confession of Nat Turner'' was awarded the ]. | ||
Revision as of 00:05, 14 April 2004
Nat Turner (October 2, 1800 - November 11, 1831) was a African American slave whose 1831 slave rebellion in Southampton County, Virginia, though defeated, was the most remarkable instance of African Americans' resistance to their enslavement in the antebellum South.
The rebellion had started on August 21, 1831. Starting with a trusted few fellow slaves, Turner's resistance force ultimately numbered more than 40 fighting men, both slaves and free African Americans, mostly on horseback. Nat Turner and his resistance fighters went from slave plantation to slave plantation, fighting to free African Americans from bondage, and attacking slave owners and their families when necessary.
The revolt was brutally suppressed within 48 hours. Following his rebellion, Turner eluded capture for months. Finally, on October 30 he was discovered and arrested. On November 5, he was tried, convicted, and sentenced to death. He was hanged and savagely skinned on November 11 in Jerusalem, Virginia.
In total, 55 African Americans suspected of having been involved in the uprising were murdered. In the aftermath, hundreds of African Americans, many of whom had nothing to do with the rebellion, were beaten, tortured and murdered by pro-slavery mobs.
However, with 55 white dead casualties, no slave uprising beforehand had come anywhere close to inflicting such a severe blow to the ranks of slave owners. Brilliantly coordinated, none reached this scale in the future either.
Thus, Nat Turner is recognized as a heroic figure by large numbers of African Americans and pan-Africanists worldwide.
Nat Turner finally became the focus of historical scholarship in the 1940s, when historian Herbert Aptheker was publishing the first serious scholarly work on instances of slave resistance in the antebellum South. Aptheker stressed how the rebellion was rooted in the exploitative conditions of the Southern slave system. He traversed libraries and archives throughout the South, managing to uncover roughly 250 similar instances, though none of which reached the scale of the great Nat Turner uprising.
William Styron's 1968 novel The Confession of Nat Turner was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.